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Guterres warns climate crisis outrunning world, calls for urgent fossil fuel transition – EnviroNews
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United Nations Secretary-General, António Guterres, has warned that the climate crisis is advancing faster than global efforts to contain it, urging world leaders to accelerate the transition away from fossil fuels, scale up climate finance and strengthen support for vulnerable countries.
Guterres gave the warning on Wednesday, November 11, 2026, while addressing the COP31 Leaders’ Summit in Antalya, Türkiye, where he called for urgent and coordinated action to prevent the consequences of global warming from becoming increasingly devastating.
He said global greenhouse gas emissions reached record levels in 2025, while the last four years were the hottest ever recorded, with climate-related disasters increasingly threatening lives, livelihoods and economies worldwide.
“Our first climate duty is to tell the truth. The brutal truth is that the climate crisis is outrunning us,” Guterres said.
He also criticised the continued influence of fossil fuel interests, accusing the industry of profiting from activities that contribute to the destruction of the planet.
Reflecting on the 2015 Paris Agreement, which established the goal of limiting global warming to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels, the UN chief acknowledged that a temporary overshoot of the threshold had become inevitable.
However, he insisted that this should not be interpreted as a reason to abandon climate action, stressing that governments still have the power to determine the extent, duration and consequences of the overshoot.
“Science tells us an overshoot above that level is now inevitable. But science is not telling us to surrender. It’s telling us to fight harder,” he said.
Guterres outlined three major lessons from the past decade, which he said should guide global climate action over the next ten years.
The first, according to him, is that exponential change is possible, citing the rapid growth of renewable energy and electric vehicles as evidence that technological transformation can happen within a relatively short period.
He noted that solar power, which accounted for just one per cent of global electricity generation a decade ago, met nearly three-quarters of the growth in global electricity demand last year.
Similarly, electric vehicles, which represented approximately one per cent of new car sales ten years ago, are expected to account for nearly one-third of sales this year.
He added that clean energy had become the cheapest source of new electricity across most parts of the world, demonstrating that the transition was economically viable.
His second lesson was that the economic and energy security arguments for continued dependence on fossil fuels were weakening.
According to Guterres, three-quarters of the world’s population live in countries that import fossil fuels, leaving them vulnerable to international price shocks and geopolitical conflicts.
He called for a just, orderly and equitable transition to renewable energy, while warning that powerful fossil fuel interests continued to obstruct progress through misinformation, policy delays and resistance to accountability.
“The dinosaurs did not have a lobby. But fossil fuels do,” he said, calling on governments to end their dependence on fossil fuels.
On the third lesson, Guterres said global climate action remained far below the pace required to meet the Paris Agreement goals.
He explained that global emissions needed to decline by approximately six per cent annually, whereas existing national climate plans, including conditional commitments, would deliver at best only one-third of the required reductions.
Even if fully implemented, he warned, current national plans would leave the world facing warming of more than 2.5°C by the end of the century, increasing the risk of dangerous and irreversible climate tipping points.
The Secretary-General consequently called for an extraordinary acceleration of climate action, identifying climate justice as a defining challenge of the coming decade.
He expressed concern that developing and emerging economies outside China, despite being home to nearly two-thirds of humanity, receive less than one-fifth of global clean energy investments.
He further noted that many of these countries pay two to three times more to borrow, making it difficult to finance renewable energy infrastructure and climate adaptation programmes.
To address these inequalities, Guterres proposed a new Climate Justice Compact based on shared responsibility, security and benefits, insisting that countries should not be expected to transform their economies without adequate financial and technological support.
He said the compact should rest on four pillars, beginning with accelerating a just transition away from fossil fuels.
Under this approach, he urged governments to develop credible national roadmaps for transitioning away from fossil fuels, protect affected workers and communities, stop approving new coal projects and avoid new oil and gas infrastructure that would undermine the 1.5°C target.
He also called for significant reductions in methane emissions and rapid expansion of renewable energy, electricity grids, energy storage and clean electrification.
Citing findings from the United Nations Environment Programme’s (UNEP) Emissions Gap Report, Guterres said global renewable energy capacity must at least triple by 2035 compared with 2025 levels, while unabated coal power must decline by at least 75 per cent.
By 2040, he said, unabated coal power should be almost completely phased out, while oil and gas consumption should fall by approximately one-third.
The second pillar focuses on protecting people against escalating climate impacts.
Guterres called for a new generation of national adaptation plans capable of addressing the consequences of warming beyond 1.5°C, with international support for developing countries.
He stressed the need to ensure that everyone on the planet is covered by an early warning system and that communities are protected against flooding, droughts and rising sea levels.
He also called for swift and accessible support for countries and communities experiencing climate-related losses and damages beyond their capacity to adapt.
On climate finance, the third pillar, the UN chief urged developed countries to deliver at least $300 billion annually by 2035 and establish concrete plans to triple adaptation finance within the same period.
He said the broader $1.3 trillion climate finance goal must translate into actual financial flows to developing countries.
Guterres also called on multilateral development banks to exceed their Baku commitment of providing $120 billion annually by 2030, urging shareholders to empower the institutions to increase lending, mobilise private investments and deploy innovative financing instruments.
He further urged donors to ensure ambitious replenishments of the Green Climate Fund and the Fund for Responding to Loss and Damage.
The Secretary-General also called for greater South-South cooperation to expand access to climate technologies and finance, while insisting that companies benefiting from fossil fuel production should contribute to addressing the damage caused by their activities.
Making a case for taxing windfall profits from fossil fuel companies, he contrasted the $95 billion earned by the nine largest oil companies in the last quarter alone with the approximately $600 million received by the Loss and Damage Fund.
According to him, the oil companies generated an amount equivalent to the fund’s entire contributions in approximately 14 hours.
“Polluters must pay,” he declared.
The fourth pillar, he said, requires countries to prioritise international cooperation over geopolitical fragmentation, trade barriers and technology monopolies, which could increase the cost of the energy transition and leave vulnerable populations behind.
He stressed that although countries might not agree on every issue, cooperation was essential in areas that no single nation could address independently.
Guterres also urged a shift in the global climate process from negotiations to practical implementation, saying success should increasingly be measured by tangible results on the ground.
He identified electricity grids, critical minerals, methane reduction and early warning systems as areas where international cooperation could deliver significant progress.
The UN chief further acknowledged the contributions of young people, scientists, Indigenous Peoples, civil society organisations and Small Island Developing States to the global climate movement.
Describing them as the conscience of the climate struggle, he praised their efforts to challenge powerful interests, demand faster action and keep public attention focused on the realities of climate change.
Guterres, who disclosed that he would leave office as UN Secretary-General next year, pledged to remain actively involved in the fight against climate change.
He said he would continue advocating for climate action and supporting those working towards a sustainable future, even after completing his tenure.
“I will not stop telling the truth. And I will not stop fighting for it. I will be standing side-by-side with you. As an advocate and an ally,” he said.
He urged world leaders and climate campaigners to sustain pressure for meaningful action, stressing that the opportunity to build cleaner economies, fairer societies and a safer world remained within humanity’s reach.
